These hands-on indoor/outdoor field trips last approximately 2 hours and can be adapted to suit your groups individual needs. The first hour is a live animal education program, followed by the second hour filled with a hands-on activity.
The cost is $5/person with a minimum of 29 paying guests.
For more information or to schedule a program, call Rachael Rost at (785) 368-9137 or Dennis Dinwiddie at (785) 368-9134.
BIRDS AND THEIR HOMES
Meet some of the zoo’s birds up close and personal as we learn where birds live, why they sing, how they build nests and raise families. Then have your class take part in lots of hands on activities to re-create the life cycle of birds from using bird songs to identify species , build their nest and raise and feed their young through highly interactive learning activities.
Whether predator, prey or both, animals use a wide variety of adaptations, tricks and strategies needed to fool other animlas, or find the food, water, shelter and space needed to survive each day in the wild. We’ll look at live birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians and bugs to discover how major groups of animals or individual species use adaptations to survive in the wild.
PREDATORS AND PREY
We’ll use live animals to look at the special relationships that exists between predator and prey animals on food chains, explore the adaptations that allow them to be the hunter, or survive as the hunted, and the role each play in creating healthy ecosystems and keeping nature’s balance.
We’ll use lots of live spiders to look at the world of these eight-legged wonders. We’ll explore the adaptations they use to survice in different habitats around the globe, and we’ll hunt for and capture spiders to compare and contrast.
BUGS, BUGS, BUGS
We’ll use a wide variety of live bugs from different ecosystems to explore the world of invertebrates. We’ll discover that bugs come in all sizes, shapes, colors, and forms, and use all kinds of adaptations to survice in the wild. Then we’ll take to the park with nets and bug jars to catch bugs and perform bug related hands-on learning activities.
The wet ares of our wold house much of the life on earth, including a large number of the world’s threatened and endangered species. We’ll explore what wetlands are and where they’re found, discover why wetlands are so important to us and use live animals to explore life in the wetlands. Then we’ll take nets to the three ponds on zoo grounds to capture all the wetland animals we can catch, examine them and compare and contrast wetland animals fro bugs to everything bigger.
NATIVE AMERICANS OF THE PRAIRIE
Go back in time with us as we explore how the Plains Indians lived their lives through this presentation involving an extensive collection of authentic Native American artifacts. Artifacts, visual aids and hands-on interactives representing Native American shelters, clothing, fire building, food preparations, weapons and tools will bring the history of the Indians of the Kansas Prairie to life in ways your students can see and touch. This class will include a live animal presentation and discussion of the relationship between the Plains Indians and the animals of the Topeka Zoo’s North American animal collection.
Don’t see what you’re looking for? We can create a program just for you! Just let us know what your class’s needs are and we’ll build a program to fill them! All programs can be adapted to any age group.